According reports on haaretz, Hamas has won over 70 sits on 132 in the Palestinian parlementary elections. There are a lot of implications to this, Hamas is shared between politics and armed confrontation with Israel and most of the western world doesn't want to support a palestinian state that vows for the destruction of Israel and uses terrorism.
Something has to happen within the next few days or weeks, something that can be terribly bad, or a big step forward towards peace, but something. I just hope it will go in the right direction as noone needs more suffering.
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
News
It's been a while I haven't posted anything here, I have been quite busy with work, and tried to use my little free time in a way that does not require my brain to be turned on ;).
Lots of things are happening in politics here. Sharon is now in a vegetative state (read: he's dead, they just haven't yet unplugged life support), Olmert has taken his spot until the next elections, and will be the Kadima candidate. Olmert was not (or at least I didn't see him like that) such a big figure of the Israeli political world, mostly just one of Sharon's advisors, but it seems he has managed to place himself in a pretty strong position.
Supposedly he has always been advocating disengagement like policies, I have even read somewhere he was the one that inspired Sharon's last moves. He probably also have less blood on his hands which in the end might make him a more acceptable person to talk with the PA.
He has started to evict israelis that did illegaly settle in the Hebron market, which has been the hottest tension spot for years (as the illegal settlements happen to be right in the middle of a dense palestinian city, right next to a holy place for both religions, and the settlers being from the agressive and violent kind). This move drew some criticism from the extreme right, but seems to have a wide support among the population as the Hebron settlers do not have a good reputation (during my lunch polls, most people said that if Hebron was given to them, they'd probably move to downtown Ramallah, and this is coming from right wing israelis...).
On the other side, despite strong activity to undermine the election process by some Fatah linked activists (they fear to loose to Hamas), the elections are agoing to happen. I do hope that whatever happens, the Hamas chooses to pursue the political way and drops the armed fight. They have a strong support among population and wide influence, and they could definitively use it in a pacific and constructive way. For about 1 year now I haven't seen reports of terror attacks doing victims conducted and claimed by Hamas, which is kind of a good start (most of the terror attacks were conducted by Islamic Jihad).
Finally 2 days ago I watched on Arte a movie/documentary called gan. I suggest you have a look at it if you can, if they are showing it again.
Lots of things are happening in politics here. Sharon is now in a vegetative state (read: he's dead, they just haven't yet unplugged life support), Olmert has taken his spot until the next elections, and will be the Kadima candidate. Olmert was not (or at least I didn't see him like that) such a big figure of the Israeli political world, mostly just one of Sharon's advisors, but it seems he has managed to place himself in a pretty strong position.
Supposedly he has always been advocating disengagement like policies, I have even read somewhere he was the one that inspired Sharon's last moves. He probably also have less blood on his hands which in the end might make him a more acceptable person to talk with the PA.
He has started to evict israelis that did illegaly settle in the Hebron market, which has been the hottest tension spot for years (as the illegal settlements happen to be right in the middle of a dense palestinian city, right next to a holy place for both religions, and the settlers being from the agressive and violent kind). This move drew some criticism from the extreme right, but seems to have a wide support among the population as the Hebron settlers do not have a good reputation (during my lunch polls, most people said that if Hebron was given to them, they'd probably move to downtown Ramallah, and this is coming from right wing israelis...).
On the other side, despite strong activity to undermine the election process by some Fatah linked activists (they fear to loose to Hamas), the elections are agoing to happen. I do hope that whatever happens, the Hamas chooses to pursue the political way and drops the armed fight. They have a strong support among population and wide influence, and they could definitively use it in a pacific and constructive way. For about 1 year now I haven't seen reports of terror attacks doing victims conducted and claimed by Hamas, which is kind of a good start (most of the terror attacks were conducted by Islamic Jihad).
Finally 2 days ago I watched on Arte a movie/documentary called gan. I suggest you have a look at it if you can, if they are showing it again.
Thursday, January 05, 2006
Sharon's health and future
Ariel Sharon is in hospital after a serious stroke. It seems that everything is being organized as he was going to die. The big question now is what will happen with the Israeli politics this year. With his new party Kadima he was proposing disengaging parts of the west bank and east Jerusalem to try to build a peace with Palestine, and he seemed to be the only one that could gather enough political power to do so. Recently he has been the only one able to make moves in a direction that was not against palestinian interests (gaza colonies evacuations), let's hope that this will still be possible without him (I hope his health gets better but I doubt that after serious brain attacks he'll be able to continue doing politics).
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
Back
Happy new year to all of you, I am back in Haifa after a painfully long security check (they even ended up calling my manager on his cell to be sure I was not someone with bad intentions...). Weather is about 20 degres warmer than in Paris and we have the strongest winds I have ever seen (I can barely walk outside and I am not lightweight). I am reintoxicating my internet addiction and will probably restart posting soon :).
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